| The Platform |
Jump to full article: St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch, 2009-10-30
Author: Dr. Walt Sumner, President, St. Louis Academy of Family
Intro: 3. The clean indoor air proposal is not perfect, but it is a start.
Some health advocates are disappointed that the proposal does not protect all workers. We share their concern. Partial smoking bans can delay passage of comprehensive smoking bans. The tobacco and hospitality industries will work hard to avoid stronger regulation.
Nevertheless, family medicine is a practical specialty. A comprehensive ban is not an option this year, but we can start to protect our children and neighbors from tobacco smoke as they dine and work. We can hope that exempted franchises will choose to compete for non-smokers’ business.
We can hope that smoke-free nicotine products will make it easier for everyone to stop breathing tobacco smoke. In the meantime, a thousand asthma attacks and dozens of funerals would be a high price to pay to wait another year. Let’s start clearing the air now.
. . .
The St. Louis Academy of Family Physicians supports the St. Louis County clean indoor air proposal for the following reasons:
1. Fine particles in tobacco smoke hurt smokers and non-smokers alike.
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